- Ask people from the Northeast region, you will receive a general retort about the area being largely neglected by the successive Central Governments ever since the independence. Even though various Central Governments did make efforts to seamlessly merge other parts of the country into the most troubled region, somehow the Northeast region continued to stay away from the mainstream. Post the National Democratic Alliance led by Bharatiya Janata Party emerged victorious in 2014, the due importance accorded to the Northeastern states has seen remarkable fruits being borne in several crucial indicators, including the economic upliftment. However, the security apprehensions remain despite huge improvements on this front.
PC: CIO DigitalFoundation
- We know how the nation was enraged when a botched operation of the special forces personnel of 21 Para killed six civilians in Nagaland’s Mon district in December last year. For several years now, the region is governed under special powers vis-à-vis the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA). Now, there are increasingly demanding voices from different quarters for repealing the draconian act which gives special powers to the military personnel fighting insurgency. The clamor to repeal the act only increased multifold on the back of the civilian killings. Thus, the filing of a charge sheet by a Nagaland police Special Investigation Team against 30 special forces personnel of 21 Para is a good response to assuage the highly emotional outbursts of the region.
- Now, the onus is on the Union Government and the army for further legal and disciplinary action. Concurrently, the army’s Court of Inquiry probe has also given a second distinct judicial pathway for authorities to proceed. Mind you, the prosecution sanction for the police charge sheet is needed from the Centre’s department of military affairs under the AFSPA law. The Army Act gives the commanding officer discretion to decide whether accused personnel will be court-martialled or be subjected to civilian law. Since the incident had set off great churning in Naga society, decisions on which forum will try the accused mustn’t be delayed inordinately. Remember, mob violence after the tragedy had taken the lives of seven more civilians and a paratrooper.
PC: News Desk
- Civil society rightly denounced the draconian AFSPA as the main villain because of the leeway it accords armed forces to fire on people. Sadly, standard operating protocols ratified by the Supreme Court to check AFSPA misuse have failed, these guardrails get flouted by errant officers or during crises. To its credit, the Union Government responded to growing calls to repeal AFSPA by withdrawing it on March 31 from 15 police stations each in seven Nagaland and six Manipur districts, and entirely from 23 districts in Assam. People knowing would rather prefer the conclusion of the Naga peace accord as compared to piecemeal AFSPA withdrawals. Hopefully, more determined efforts would allow the region to realize its true economic potential sooner than later.
